The present invention has broad application in situations including, but not limited to, the following topics.
People who are elderly, infirm, chronically ill, confused, or are otherwise unable to care for themselves and very often fall with resulting medical distress, often reside in a nursing home or similar type institution. Similarly, others who find that living alone is unacceptably difficult or risky may elect to reside in an assisted living facility, or the like, that assists their residents in the performance of certain daily living tasks (such as, for example, bathing and dressing). Both such institutional facilities—nursing homes and assisted living facilities (and the like)—monitor their residents' health and safety, and respond to requests for emergency assistance. In a typical assisted living or nursing home, a limited number of staff members are available to monitor a relatively large number of residents (or patients).
Alternatively, such care and monitoring services are generally available for those who wish to reside in a home setting, and require assistance with, for example, toileting, cooking, cleaning and performing routine house chores or. In a home setting, one or more attendants provide care and monitoring for, typically, one or two residents.
In the settings described above, there may be an urgent need by one of the residents for a rapid response as a result of a fall. Often, that need arises when the resident falls, for example, while trying to get out of bed. In such a situation, the required rapid response might not be timely, due to the unavailability of an attendant. In such a case, the resident would have to remain lying on the floor until the aide returns. In the absence of the required rapid response, serious injury, or even death, may occur.
This risk is compounded when an attendant is not witness to, or present during, the urgent event. Attendants may be unavailable for several reasons, including, but not limited to: attendants are busy tending to other patients; attendants are performing part of their service at a remote location (shopping, for example); or the resident's contracted level or privacy precludes continuous personal attention.
Additionally, people who are able to care for themselves in their homes, but wish to mitigate the risks associated with falls, such as being helpless and/or injured as the result of the fall, employ automatic monitoring and emergency call services.
According to the New England Journal of medicine, over 10M Americans over 65 live alone. Of these, over 25% (2.5M) of these subjects fall once per year, and for 50% of these falls, the subject can't get up. Studies further show that 38% of survivors found helpless do not return to independent living. For those subjects that are down without assistance for greater than 72 hours, the mortality rate is 67%. For those that are down less 1 one hour without assistance, the mortality rate is 12%. Thus, there is a substantial need for solutions that mitigate falls, especially for persons living alone at home. Currently available solutions have not fulfilled this need.
Note that phrases, such as, but not limited to, care-givers, staff, staff member, monitoring personnel, attendant, attending personnel, etc., refer to a person located on or off the premises (facility or home) where the individual (subject) is being monitored, and may include, for example, an emergency call service or a neighbor of the monitored individual.
While falling (from a bed, standing position, etc.) is a major cause of injury for patients, the present invention applies directly to any other situation for potentially dangerous or risky changes in elevation.
Generally, animals (such as dogs or horses) may be the subject of care and monitoring, similar to the situation described above for people.
More specifically, animals, such as horses, often represent a significant investment that owners wish to preserve. Some animals, such as horses, maintain a predictable posture (for example, standing), such that a deviation from that posture may be regarded as abnormal and requiring immediate attention. Such a situation may exist when the animal is either in good health or is infirm.
For both home and the institutional settings, apparatus are available to summon (call) aid. Such call systems employ both active and passive invocation methods, where an active method requires activation (typically conscious) by the patient, and passive means that the system automatically makes the call, in response to some automatic invocation. An example of call system is the “call bell” used in hospitals.
The majority of currently available solutions require the subject to wear some kind of device. An additional problem associated with such devices is what can be termed the “pride factor”. Many people find that the requirement to wear a visible device essentially marks them as a person who is challenged, and as a result there are many instances of people who have fallen and been on the floor for extended periods because they “forgot” to wear the device. A passive solution which does not require the user to wear any form of device has a significant advantage in this regard.
The purposeful combination and integration of monitoring system and call system satisfies the need of the caregiver to detect and report potentially dangerous situations such as falls.